Cracks in the Universe
by Call Me Captain
Summary: The Doctor looks through a crack in time and space and sees a scene that opens up old wounds.


**Title**: Cracks in the Universes  
**Summary**: The Doctor looks through a crack in time and space and sees a scene that opens up old wounds.  
**Note: **Wrote this pretty late at night. It's not edited but I just want to get something out here. Typos and grammatical errors, wrong words (have you ever done that? Typed something you didn't mean to type? Like 'he rolled his arms' instead of 'he rolled his eyes'? Probably just me), and incorrect information are all my fault, if any. I've not published anything in so long, and all of my stories I deleted because I've hated them. Hopefully this one-shot will give me some cred in the authors' circle again. P.S. This takes place sometime before they pick up Rory in S5.

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_"There were cracks - through some of them we saw other worlds, through others we saw silence and the end of all things..."_

The planet of Nohonachia was a color planet, filled with bright and fun houses, colorful people and smiling faces, and the longest holiday in its galaxy, which consisted of seven and a half Earth months of festivities. The Doctor parked his TARDIS near the town centre, and led his companion, one fiery Scottish girl by the name of Amy Pond, into the heart of the celebration, where the planet's natives led them into a Nohonachian traditional dance.

Everyone laughed and smiled as they danced and sang and celebrated - until They came.

No one remembered what They used to be called, or where They came from, but everyone feared Them. The citizens of Nohonachia's capital city Donghall rushed into their bright townhouses and slammed the door shut, deadlocking it, shutting off all the lights, and hiding in their cellars until They left.

The Doctor and Amy Pond were left, alone, in the abandoned city centre, where confetti still covered the cobblestone streets and large children's balloons could still be seen floating in the magenta sky, as the Nohonachians ran to their homes.

"What happened?" Amy asked her quiet voice seeming decibels louder in the dead silent city. "Why did they just - disappear like that?"

"I'm not sure, Pond," the Doctor replied, his brows furrowed. His eyes alight with curiosity, he straightened his bowtie and said, "But I'm about to find out."

As it turned out, Nohonachia has been invaded by a race whose names have been lost with time, and everyone was terrified of them. The Nohonachians tried to go on as normal - still celebrating their seven-and-a-half-month long Nohonachian holiday, still being eccentric and exciting as they always have been - but they were still afraid.

Celebrations and parties and dancing couldn't mask their fear, though they tried as hard as they could, until They came to stop their celebrating, which as They started to take over, became illegal.

A fearless old shopkeeper told the Doctor and Amy this - he was the only one who would. Everyone else would pelt them with large Nohonachian goose eggs, or would be too scared to even step near the door.

After the shopkeeper told them all of this, taking longer than was necessary with his constant grumblings and cursing of Them, the Doctor and Amy headed out, to confront Them.

"So what are we going to do?" Amy asked her raggedy Doctor, jogging to catch up with his quick pace.

"I'm going to talk to Them," he replied, still walking quickly and with purpose. When he had his mind set on something, he didn't stop until it got done.

"That's it?" she asked, disbelief laced in her voice as she skidded to a halt. "You're just going to barge in and speak to Them and hope They don't kill you?"

"That's the plan," he said, seemingly oblivious to the fact that she stopped walking. "Never failed me before."

"Doctor," she said, "you're honestly just going to demand an audience with Them and hope that They'll leave in peace?"

"Yep!"

"But can't you get hurt or – or killed?"

"Mhmm."

"But Doctor –"

"But Amelia, millions of lives are at stake!" The Doctor whirled around, his hands flailing in an odd gesture. "It's me or them, and I'll always pick them."

"I –" Amy paused. "But what if they kill you? You're no help to them if you're dead."

The Doctor gave a small smile. "That's a risk I'm willing to take."

xx

The meeting with Them went pretty well, by the Doctor's standards. To Amy's standards, however, it went horribly.

She would argue that almost being dropped into an erupting volcano tipped the scale to more of the 'not good' side, but the Doctor only waved it away and said that 'he'd had worse.'

Thankfully, They left. As it turned out, Their government was corrupt and Their King, a blind fellow who thought he ruled over his planet, was used by his royal advisor to take over a harmless, friendly world by forming an insidious plan filled with lies and trickery. The poor King had no idea that he had been seen as a dictator for the passed few thousand years by the Nohonachians.

With another world saved and a job well done, the Doctor and Amy stayed with the celebrating Nohonachians and attended their thank you feast before getting ready to leave.

"That was surely interesting," Amy said, picking rainbow confetti out of her red hair. The townspeople seemed to throw handfuls of the stuff at them every chance they got. She was positive that she would be finding confetti in her clothing for weeks.

"Sure was! Saved a planet, celebrated with some Nohonachian dancing!" The Doctor grinned as he walked towards the TARDIS with Amy. "Pretty good adventure, eh?"

Amy paused in taking out the confetti and laughed. "Probably the tamest since I've been with you, I'd think."

The Doctor shrugged and they continued walking. Amy had walked at a slightly faster pace for a change, and the Doctor was slower, taking the time to relish in the feeling of a job well done, where no one died that day. It was a rare feeling and it brought a bittersweet smile to his face.

Amy was meters ahead, still cleaning the colorful paper out of her hair. The Doctor was lost in his thoughts, strolling with his hands in his pockets. He stopped and smelled the roses as he looked at every little detail on this little planet. There were statues of their first leader, Blarty the Brilliant, and neon green sentient flowers with eighteen petals, and large, shiny cracks in the purple grass…

Wait.

The Doctor paused, his eyes wide. There was a crack here, and he hadn't even noticed. The cracks were still a mystery to him – he'd no idea why they were there or what they were doing. Of course, he knew that they were cracks in time and space, but why were they following him?

He glanced at Amy and saw that she was still walking, concentrating on the almost impossible task she'd set herself to. Then he looked back at the crack in the ground.

It was opening, almost like the one on Amy's wall way back then. The crack was illuminating a bright white light, and there was a blinding flash before it stilled.

Inside the crack, there was a scene playing out. There was a tidy, small kitchen with a refrigerator decorated in various postcards and letters. There was a high chair with a chubby baby eating mashed peas, and a scrawny fellow wearing a ratty old white tee feeding said baby the peas. The man seemed familiar, sort of, almost like an old friend.

There wasn't any sound, but the Doctor could almost hear her laughter as she stepped into the picture. The baby had spit up on the man, and a blonde woman came rushing in with a towel and crinkled eyes.

Rose Tyler. A knife stabbed both of his hearts as he looked at her smiling face. She looked like she hadn't aged a day since he had left her on Bad Wolf Bay with his Metacrisis, who turned out to be the unfortunate man to be spit up on. Years' worth of regret came to the forefront of his mind and tears pricked his eyes as he watched the strangely domestic scene. It hurt so badly, because there was his Rose with another man that wasn't him, but it was him, his old self, but not really. He should have known that they would have gotten together, because isn't that what he wanted?

But it wasn't, deep down it really wasn't. He was being selfish, he knew, but Rose was his and no one, not even someone who was sort-of-kind-of him could have her, because he was the one who made her who she was, the defender of the earth, the beautiful, shining, brilliant Rose Tyler.

If only he hadn't left her there. If only he had taken her with him, like he should have. If only…

"Doctor?"

Yet he couldn't afford to think in the past. He couldn't afford to be selfish, because he was already too selfish. Taking a deep breath, he put on a brave, smiling face and mustered up some scraps of fortitude before he straightened up and said, "Coming, Pond!"


End file.
